Some used captivating style to boost diplomacy. Some offered compassionate calm in days of war. Some embraced the role they never expected to make a difference. And some seized the role they always dreamed of to blaze a trail.

Profiles Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor as the most prominent members of the most important family in history. Through their stories, PBS chronicles the history they helped to shape, from the Square Deal to the New Deal, San Juan Hill to the Western Front, to the founding of the United Nations.

Prince Seretse Khama of Botswana causes an international stir when he marries a white woman from London in the late 1940s. When they decided to marry, just as apartheid was being introduced into South Africa, it caused an international uproar. However, their passionate romance triumphed over every obstacle and changed the course of African history.

The story of the unlikely rise of a gritty American original, Harry Truman. He was a farmer, a bankrupt businessman, an unknown politician from Missouri who suddenly found himself president. Of all the men who had held America's highest office, Harry Truman was the least prepared, but he would prove to be a surprise. Facing some of the biggest crises of the century, Truman would end the war with Germany, use the atomic bomb against Japan, confront...

The miniseries weaves together the troubled lives of a dirt-farmer's son and a wealthy Southern slave-owner's daughter. Together, Abraham and Mary Lincoln ascended to the pinnacle of power at the most difficult time in the nation's history, the Civil War. Abraham Lincoln's legacy as the Great Emancipator reshaped the nation while his tragic death left Mary reclusive and forgotten.

A comedy about a cantankerous former First Lady and her reluctant bodyguard.

Relying heavily on the correspondence between the second president, John Adams, and his wife, Abigail Adams, this joint biography sheds light on the characters of two people who played crictical roles in the history of the United States and on the tumultuous times through which they lived. He was a participant in the Continental Congress and a wartime emissary to France as well as becoming the second President of the United States during its fledging...

An eye-opening four-part series reexamining one of the most powerful and polarizing political couples of the time. Award winning documentarian and journalist Matt Tyrnauer combines archival footage, exhaustive research, and first-person accounts from the couple's inner circle to craft a revealing portrait of their unlikely rise from Hollywood to the presidency, and Nancy Reagan's powerful position at the helm of their unprecedented partnership. A...

"Dolley Madison lived through two wars, knew the first twelve Presidents, and watched America evolve from a struggling young republic to the first modern democracy in the world. At a time when women could neither vote nor participate officially in politics, Dolley Madison, wife of the fourth president James Madison, became one of the most influential and best loved figures of her day. When she died in 1849 at the age of 81-- one of the last remaining...

True-life story of Eva Perón, who rose above childhood poverty and a scandalous past to achieve fortune and fame.